We complete it! – Budapest Pride

Monday, 9 May 2016

“We complete it!”: the slogan characterizes this year’s 10-day Budapest Pride Festival, which begins on Friday, June 24th 2016, with the official opening ceremony. At the Budapest Pride March on July 2nd 2016, we will prove that we represent a force to be reckoned with.

For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people, exclusion from different spheres of society is still present in their everyday life, within their family life, school, workplace, health services, or public administrative procedures.

In decision-making processes regarding our lives, our own participation is sorely bypassed. We are treated as secondary citizens, the government tries to control and talk disparagingly about all aspects of our lives. We have to put an end to this unbalanced relationship so that we can build a more just, a more inclusive society. Because different communites of society are complete with us. This is exactly what this year’s slogan represents: the groups of society that face oppression, among them LGBTQ, are an undeniable part of society, and together we can do a lot against oppression directed at us.

Budapest Pride has spent past years promoting the ever-increasing visibility of the LGBTQ community. You have helped us make the Budapest Pride March a topic of public discourse, and we have tripled the number of participants. In 2015, 20 000 people chose to join us and showed that they choose the power of love instead of the love of power. They also proved that our community is a force to be reckoned with, and it will not be silenced anymore: in spite of the ever-changing and difficult political situation, the need for self-organizing communities and their continuous, active presence is vital. Thus this year we have carried out a large scale survey and asked what LGBTQ people consider as important. The processed results up till now of the thousands of participants show that our community is appalled by the political discourse promoting exclusion, and they wish to act against the narrowly defined concept of family and marriage. Join us on July 2nd at the Budapest Pride March if you share our views, if you want to make your voice heard about what you consider important.

The 21st Budapest Pride Festival takes place from June 24th to July 3rd, 2016. The 10-day festival will comprise of diverse activities such as performances, workshops, exhibitions, theatre performances, literary readings, community-building games, parties, all with the active participation of LGBTQ people, communities, and allies from Budapest and all of Hungary.